County OKs $7.5M payment in man's wrongful imprisonment suit

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (AP) — Lawmakers in a Hudson Valley county have cleared the way for a $7.5 million settlement with a Brooklyn native who spent 26 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of killing a 92-year-old woman.

The Dutchess County Legislature on Tuesday approved the funds for the settlement with 55-year-old Dewey Bozella of Beacon.

Bozella was convicted in 1983 of murdering Emma Crasper in Poughkeepsie. He was convicted again at a retrial in 1990, but released from prison 19 years later when a judge ruled police and prosecutors withheld evidence.

Bozella sued the county for $25 million for wrongful imprisonment. The settlement, first reported by the Poughkeepsie Journal, was reached last month as his civil trial was about to start.

While in prison, Bozella honed his boxing skills and won his first and only professional bout in Los Angeles in 2011.